A suspect was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday morning in the fatal shooting of a Jonesville, N.C. police sergeant 17 years ago.
Scott Vincent Sica entered an Alford plea in Yadkin County Superior Court in the slaying of Officer Sgt. Gregory Martin on Oct. 5, 1996, according to The Winston-Salem Journal.
With the plea, Sica did not admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. He faced the possibility of the death penalty on a first-degree murder charge in Martin's death.
The slain officer's wife, siblings and children were all in court.
After accepting the plea agreement, Judge William Z. Wood Jr. told the family "I hope you all can get some peace out of this. This is a tragedy, that's what this is."
Sica was arrested in Cape Coral, Fla., on Oct. 3, 2012, and extradited to North Carolina after authorities spent more than 10 years following up on tips connected with the case.
A joint investigation that included the Jonesville Police Department, the SBI, the FBI and the Elkin Police Department led to Sica's arrest.
On the day of the killing, authorities say that the 30-year-old radioed in that he was pulling over a red 1996 Dodge Ram pickup on I-77 and requested. He didn't respond to calls minutes later, and a trooper later found him lying on the shoulder of the highway, shot in the head multiple times with his gun still holstered.
Officials say that Martin ordered Sica and Brian Eugene Whittaker out of the vehicle after finding they had no identification. Sica then shot Martin while he had his back turned and was looking in a duffle bag found inside the pickup that contained masks and other items to be used in a robbery.
